Lovely historians,
I am doing an experiment where I am following the old ancient roman food culture in terms of diet for 120 days. I am trying to be as accurate as possible and documenting everything I do in a blog. I've been in contact with many universities and now recently traveled to Italy myself in order to research the topic. I want it to be as close to 100% authentic in regards of recipes and ingredients as possible.
The only thing which I'm having some challenges with is the bread, and what role it played in the old roman society. Also with what crops it was baked and how these were treated.
Perhaps the historians at Reddit can offer me some more insight? If you have any valuable info, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
Spelt was the best friend of the common man. However, different classes consumed different kinds of bread and there were several varieties, besides. Are you looking to try all of them or emulate the average Roman? The British Museum and a Michelin chef recently tried out a recipe from a large bakery in Herculaneum. It's a kind of sourdough.
Hard and soft grains yield different breads; with the introduction of new, higher-quality grains from Africa & Sicily, bread types expanded. Grains were first toasted, then ground to separate the chaff. Removing chaff from wheat, like bran from rice, leaves a better-tasting product. In this case, the bread was softer, spongier, and less acidic.
Typically, slaves, soldiers, and the poor would consume barley, rye, and oat bread. It was typically quite hard; sailors and soldiers ate a kind of bread which was essentially hard tack. These are more resistant to mold but rather unpalatable, and bad for sopping up stews and the like. Barley is extremely hardy and at the time had a much higher yield than any other grain. I think I remember a professor telling me that in the 2nd half of the first millennium in Britain, it was an 8:1 bushel ratio for what you reaped:what you sowed. Wheat was nearly 1:1. So figure that's not much different from Roman times.
Throughout history, the higher you get in class, the finer and whiter your flour will be. Wheat flour was highly coveted because wheat yields were so low. Good wheat breads would often have luxuries like oil, candied fruit, wine, and milk mixed in. Bread has been a very good indicator of status throughout time. Different types of wheat will give higher or lower quality breads. Semolina and durum are better for pasta and gruel, but semolina was used to make a less attractive, biscuit-y kind of bread.
Unleavened bread was the norm until relatively late in human history, as we know from the writings of Plinio, the Elder. Romans would have eaten flatbread or a kind of gruel known as polta mixed with cooked meat, when available.
re:bread do you have organic sources for Emmer, Barley & Spelt?